By: Cameron Cocquyt
For the first time this season, the Hoosiers go into a game with a familiar opponent. Indiana beat Oregon In Eugene back in October, but this time a new challenge presents itself. Going into the Peach Bowl, only one team has beaten a team in both the regular season, and the playoffs (Ole Miss, 2025).
Now with prior experience, and a year full of film: this will require a different level of preparation and scheming from the coaching staff. At media availability, Indiana offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan took some time to dive into the offense’s strategy for their rematch with Oregon.
Shanahan was asked how the offensive strategy would look, being the Hoosiers’ second matchup with the Ducks.
“We’re going to have to be really good in our protections when we throw the ball. Obviously running the football is going to help that as well as long as we have answers. You know, a big pressure team, they take away easy access throws. We’re going to have to find other ways to move the ball consistently in the run game.
But they’re a good defense. They pose a lot of challenges. Even when they’re not pressuring, they have the ability to get to a quarterback with just a four-man rush, and they do a nice job with the simulated pressures, as well.
Everybody is just going to need to be on point with their pre-snap indicators, post-snap, playing fast and reacting.
But they definitely keep you off balance, and I feel like that’s why their defense is ranked so high,” said Shanahan.
The return of Omar Cooper Jr. to the Indiana lineup is also something Shanahan has taken note of. Cooper Jr. left the Big Ten Championship in the first quarter with an apparent ankle injury. This year, the Lawrence North (Indianapolis, IN) product has emerged as one of the nation’s premier receivers.
The Hoosiers’ extended break as the top seed in the playoff allowed for Cooper to draw back into the lineup for their Rose Bowl matchup. Cooper Jr. recorded a touchdown in the game, and has been an explosive weapon for the Hoosiers all season. Shanahan took some time to recall his first impressions of the Indiana wideout, here’s what he had to say:
“I remember my first meeting with him when I first got to IU, and he jumped out as a guy — there was a lot more to him than just football. I know he has a really strong family connection, really deep in his faith as well. Just knew he was a really good kid that I wanted to help along his journey.
Then athletically, he really jumped out to me the first time I saw him work out, his explosiveness, his speed, his ability to track the football in the air. I knew he was somebody who could be really special, and he’s just continued to work hard and really happy with how he’s played this year for the most part, like we’ve talked about, and I thought last week against Alabama, it felt like he was back to himself after the injury in the Big Ten Championship game.”
The Hoosiers have been dangerous all season through the air, and have the weapons across the board to make explosive plays. With this being said, time and time again the coaching staff makes it clear their offense starts in the run game. Here’s what Mike Shanahan had to say about their approach on the ground:
“The run game is where it all starts for us. Number one, it gets everybody in the flow of the game, especially the O-line, allow those guys to kind of eat up front.
Our running backs do a really good job of keeping the ball moving forward. They’re really disciplined. They ran really hard in our last game, so we’re going to need a big game out of them. When you’re able to run the football, it creates favorable situations I guess you could say, for the receivers and the quarterback.
Whenever you’re able to establish the run, it usually helps the quarterbacks in protection, as well, slows down the defensive line slightly.”
A successful run game ultimately leads to flexibility in an offense’s play calling. Shanahan dove into how the Hoosiers’ system and success has allowed for flexibility within their playbook.
“Plays off of plays, things that we’ve done throughout the year, building off of each other, and then yeah, there’s a lot of times where we try to make the same play look a lot of different ways to the defense. I feel like that’s what a lot of offenses try to accomplish.
But it’s very easy in our system to change things up and keep it simple for our guys, but make it look differently to the defense and hopefully cause a miscommunication or a guy getting out of his gap, maybe a busted coverage, things like that that we try to take advantage of,” said Shanahan.
The Hoosiers will kick off at 7:30 PM EST on Friday against the Oregon Ducks at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, with a trip to the National Championship on the line.
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